A major accident involving Sauber rookie Sergio Perez halted qualifying for
this afternoon’s Monaco Grand Prix for over half an hour as Formula One held
its breath, remembering Karl Wendlinger’s near-fatal crash at the same spot
in 1994.

Easy does it: Sebastian Vettel made it five poles from last six racesPhoto: GETTY IMAGES

By Tom Cary, F1 Correspondent in Monaco

6:30PM BST 28 May 2011

Thankfully the 21-year-old Mexican suffered no more than concussion and a sprained thigh after his spectacular 140mph shunt into a barrier at the exit of the chicane, but the long-term repercussions of the incident for Lewis Hamilton could prove more costly.

McLaren driver Hamilton, who has spoken all week of the need to win here given his 41-point deficit in the championship, was down in eighth place in the final top-10 shootout when Perez’s accident happened with 2min26sec left on the clock.

Champing at the bit to get back out, Hamilton went out to queue at the pit exit far too early, meaning his tyres and brakes cooled down too much and he was only able to improve his grid position by one place, a time which eventually proved immaterial anyway as he was found to have cut the chicane.

With Perez not taking any part, Hamilton will start ninth. And in Monaco, that is effectively his hopes of victory over.

Olivier Panis came from 14th to win for Ligier in 1996 but it was raining heavily on that occasion and only three cars completed the race.

To rub salt in his wounds Red Bull’s runaway championship leader Sebastian Vettel, almost inevitably, claimed pole – his fifth in six races this year – ahead of Jenson Button; Hamilton’s team-mate producing an excellent lap at the perfect time early in Q3 to give himself a golden opportunity of repeating his memorable 2009 triumph.

On a day when Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg also crashed into the barriers at exactly the same point as Perez, at the end of the chicane, it was Perez’s crash – and the sinister reminder of Monaco’s inherent dangers – which was uppermost in everyone’s minds.

Worryingly, both Perez and Rosberg lost control at the exit of the tunnel as they braked while going over a particular bump, careering into the wall before flying straight through the chicane and into the crash barrier.

Rosberg, whose accident happened during morning practice, was lucky to glance off sideways and sidle to a halt further down the track. His mechanics did a superb job to fix his car and get him back out for qualifying.

Perez, by contrast, took the full force of the impact side on and did not move as ambulances and marshals rushed to his Sauber. It was two hours before the team would confirm that he was “stable, conscious and talking” at the Princesse Grace hospital where he remained overnight.

Button, who crashed at the same spot eight years ago, said it was a “pity” that it took these incidents to spur Formula One into making improvements to safety.

At least Button was happy with his grid position. Hamilton was almost inconsolable. Having gone quickest in Q2, he knew he had the car to trouble Vettel and stayed in his motorhome for over half an hour following qualifying an hour before eventually emerging, glumly, to face the press.

“With hindsight, we probably should have put in a banker early in Q3,” he said. “I felt I’d been driving well all weekend and I had the pace to be on pole – I’m certain of that. But I won’t give up. My job will be to get as many points as I can tomorrow.”